5 ask to be included in negligence suit against Freeport Health Network

Tuesday

May 20, 2014 at 7:06 PMMay 20, 2014 at 7:06 PM

By Susan VelaRockford Register Star

FREEPORT — Five women who say they were misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis are seeking to join seven others in a medical negligence lawsuit against Dr. Farouk Khan and Freeport Health Network.

A court hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday because David Monteleone, who is with the Rockford-based firm Fisk & Monteleone, wants Stephenson County Circuit Judge David Jeffrey to add the quintet to the suit.

Each of the 12 women is asking for more than $50,000.

“Simply being given the diagnosis is injury enough because it’s such a horrible disease to be told you have,” Monteleone said.

MS is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and body. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure.

“Malpractice suits and settlements are common to all health care organizations,” Mike Clark, FHN’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a statement issued Tuesday. “Some have merit and many don’t.

“For many reasons, including our concern for our patients and their rights to privacy, it is not appropriate to discuss the details of any pending litigation.”

Lawyers for Khan and FHN want the cases considered separately.

“The only common element among these seven plaintiffs is the allegations of medical negligence against the same defendant, Dr. Khan,” according to court documents. “This alone is not enough for consolidation.

“In this case, each plaintiff is different; each determination of whether or not the standard of care was violated will depend on each individual circumstance of each individual plaintiff.”

Monteleone said separating the plaintiffs so they have to go to trial individually would place “a tremendous burden” on the women and the court system.

Seven women and the husband of one filed the initial complaint in February: Maribeth Klaus, Susanne Louah, Sharon Humphrey, Jamie Bakken, Linda Smith, Patti Cole and Rhonda Strohecker. Robert Klaus based his complaint on loss of consortium, a legal term for the deprivation of the benefits of a family relationship.

Khan is no longer with FHN. However, according to the original complaint, Khan misdiagnosed the plaintiffs while working at FHN Memorial Hospital in 2011 and 2012.

According to the complaint:

— Khan “holds himself out as a neurologist though he is not board-certified in any medical specialty.”

— Khan’s medical order was for the women to give themselves daily injections of Copaxone and Betaseron, drugs intended to reduce MS flare-ups. Each was paying about $5,000 a month for the medications.

Khan and FHN were among 12 defendants in another medical negligence lawsuit that was settled last month for $10 million — the highest verdict or settlement reported in Stephenson County, according to the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

The plaintiff in that case, Jacob Backus of Freeport, became a quadriplegic after a stroke. His lawsuit said the stroke could have been prevented if doctors had diagnosed a warning sign before sending him home.